Page 312 - Gulf Precis(II)_Neat

290 Part VII- Chap. LXVIII

To—Sir Jons McNeill, G.C.B., etc., etc., etc.
Sir,
I transmit to you herewith oopies of a correspondence between this oflico and the India
Board respecting tho wish of the latter department that measures should be taken for acquiring
possession of the Island of Knrrak by purchase from tho Persian Government. You will SCO
in my letter of tho 23rd of August a statement of tho grounds on which it appeared to mo to
bo inexpedient that Her Majesty's Government should mako to the Persian Government
any proposition for tho purchase of Karrak. The India Board, as you will aoo, acquiesco in the
objections which I havo slated, at tho same time tin y express a wish that measures should at
all evouts bo taken for establishing in Karrak a Resident and a coal dopdt, or other magazines,
for tho uso of tho British steam and sailing vosscls frequonting tho Persian Gulf.
I havo a:cordingly to instruct you, when tho islaud of Karrak is to bo ovacuatod by the
British forces, to explain to tho Porsian Government that a British Residont will remain
there for tho protection of British commercial interests, and that a coal dopdt will bo wanted
on tho Island for the u^o of tho British stoara vessels navigating tho Tigris and the Euphrates,
and you will request tho Porsian Government to order the local authorities in tho island
to afford facilities for that purpose.
I am, etc.,
PALMERSTON.
India Boabd ;
25th Augutt 1841. _______________

571. On tho subjoct of tho evacuation of Karrak, Sir John McNeill
addressed the following orders to the
Yolumo 68—1243 of 18Ai-42, p. 200.
Officer Commanding the detachment at
Karrak on 28th October 1811:—
It was arranged between the British and Persian Ministers that on the conclusion of a
Commercial Treaty between the Governments tho British troops should evacuate tho Island
of Karrak, aud in a despatch addressed to me by Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State
for Foreign Affairs, dated July 3rd of this year, I am instructed that “if the Shah should be
willing to°ratify iho Treaty at once without waiting for tho Queen’s ratification, and if the
Shah should give the ratification to be sent to England along with tho Treaty itself, iu that
case you should send word to that effect to tho Officer Commanding at Karrak in order that
he may cause tho British troops to evacuate the island without further delay.
I have the honor to inform you that the Commercial Treaty here alluded to has been
signed aud that I have received the Shah's ratification to be sent homft along with the Treaty.
The conditions on which the British Government has directed that the island should be
evacuated without further delay have thus been fulfilled by the Government of Persia, and I
have therefore*to direct that you will lose no time in causing the evacuation of the island of
Karrak by the British troops.
If arrangements for tho transport of the troops shall. not already havo been made, I beg
that you will communicate with the R-eident in the Persian Gulf as to the moans of giving the
necessary intimation as speedily as possible to the Bombay Government by whom the amount
of tonnage required will doubtless immediately be furnished, as that Government has certainly
for some time been in .possession of instructions on the subject.
When the British troops shall have evacuated Kairak, you will deliver it up to the person
who may be appointed by the Persian Government to receive it, and you will inform that
officer that the depot of coals for tho use of the British steamers will continue to be on that
island, and that a British officer will reside there.
572. Tho detaohraent of the Bombay Army was withdrawn from Karrak
in January-Pebruary 1812. « • «
(il) Removal of the Residency from Karrak—Resident’s rosldcnco in Summer at Karrak.
673. Tho Officiating Resident H. D. Robertson removed the Residency
from Karrak to Bushire in May 1842.* The Resident, however, soon after
went back to Karrak and resided there for the summer months. The
Persian authorities remonstrated strongly to the British Chargd d’Affaires
(Colonel I. Shoil) on this proceeding. Tho following letter dated the 3rd
November 1842 (from Bushire) of tho Resident to tho address of Colonel Sheil
explains the oircumstances in which he had proceeded to Karrak and the
condition on which he resided there:—
With reference to my letters dated tbe 11th of August and 3rd October last, I beg to
explain that on the 20th of May I recommended to the Government of Bombay to take into
serious consideration the advisability on political grounds of making an effort for removing
the Resident from the town of Bushire to some place at least some miles distant from it inland,
or on the coast before expeoding any money in repairing the Residency there, and that 1
^orra^moatswer, apparently made 10 maintain a Residency at Karrak, as had been intended presumably